Jump to content

Sick of all these scams?


Recommended Posts

I am too!

Anyone had the latest scam from a supposed Canadian called Frank Cologenal?

Here it is:

Location Vacances France

My Wife Finds your Holidays Home advert and we are interested renting

for the date Below.

Check In Date Oct 02 2011 .

Check Out Date July 18 2011 .

Could you tell me if you have availability and a full price including

damage deposits let me have the price in Euros..Could you also tell me

the nearest airport and time walking to shops etc.We are from

Canada...

Thanks Alot.

God Bless..

Frank Cologenal.

[email protected]

Strange, I don't even advertise on the website mentioned!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I replied telling him that we run a B&B not gites and gave him a price.

This is his answer:

Its will be a great pleasure staying in your

> property,About the payment my wife business associate will issued the payment

> by Travelers Check for the rentals 600Euros and the Travelers Check will be

> issued in Excess when you have the payment its will be O.K in your Bank in

> few days and when its O.K you can make the Excess payment available to my

> wife so that she can book our flight and other things.I will provide you our

> flight details so you will be fully aware about our arrival...Its will be a

> great pleasure staying in your property.If you have a contract for the

> rentals you can either send it by email attachment we can have it filled

> online by pdf and send them back to you.

>

> Mr Frank & Wife Adrienne Cologenal.47 Dundas Street EdinburghEdinburgh EH3

> 6RSScotland.

> I will require for the details below.Name that will be on the Check

> Full Address, Cell Phone Number, Home Phone Number, Office

> Phone Number, Property Address

> Kindly email me back soonest today with the

> information and also don't forget to include the address of the property we

> renting from you.My wife is from Scotland Am are presently here in Scotland.

> if i don't pick the phone you can drop me a message and ill call you back.you

> can call me on my mobile 07579744786..I dont really know if possible you can

> send a copy of your replies to my Gmail email.([email protected])

> Thanks Alot.God Bless.Mr Frank Cologenal..

Needless to say, I used very impolite word to tell him to get lost!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So you fell for his initial email ,otherwise you would not have sent him a price .

 Then  eventually , you sent him a get lost email .

Most people on this forum would have "sussed" his insincerity  and binned his first email!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually I DID NOT fall for this scam. It was pretty obvious from the the message and name of sender. I just wanted to see what ridiculous proposal I got so I could warn other people.

Maybe with sarcastic replies like these then I won't bother next time. Unlike some forum members, I've got better things to do with my time than to belittle others!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="josid"]Actually I DID NOT fall for this scam. It was pretty obvious from the the message and name of sender. I just wanted to see what ridiculous proposal I got so I could warn other people. Maybe with sarcastic replies like these then I won't bother next time! I've got better things to do with my time than to belittle others.[/quote]Unfortunately some people can never miss a chance to show off their (imagined?) cleverness.  I thought it was obvious that you were just playing with the scammer. It seemed to me to be unlikely that anyone would admit to being fooled on a forum such as this.[:)]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! There's too much of this bullying going on, especially towards some of the newcomers to France who ask a genuine but maybe naive question.

Some people just need advice not a quick witted and sometimes downright rude response by some self-opinionated member who takes pleasure in making people feel stupid!

It's maybe this reason why some of us only post a comment when we feel that it's constructive, not destructive.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure that there are a lot of people who feel the same way and are worried about posting a comment for fear of being made a laughing stock.

If members who constantly use these tactics can't use a bit more discretion, they should be banned from commenting.!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I received exactly the same scam email and played him along for a while. I even sent a mail in which I asked for 3x the usual price for the Gite. In the end I said I had phoned him but got "no such number" from the operator - he never wrote back after that. Nice to think I could build up his expectations and waste his time!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will not accept bookings without full names of guests, address and LANDLINE phone number. We then look the people up on Google - surprising how many we find - and find their address on multi-map or similar. Not foolproof but at least we confirm that the person exists.

These scams are always so transparent with silly dates, awful English and just feel wrong.

It does beg the question though - would they bother if someone, somewhere didn't bite?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing is that sometimes you get one that 'feels' wrong and turns out to be quite genuine. I had one a few years back, bad English (they thought they would email me in English as they saw my English website) and funny dates. Turned out they were OK, they stayed, they paid and were nice people. We also get the same type of scam in French as well, usually from the Ivory Coast area (well thats where the country code of the phone number points to).

I am sure some people do get taken in by these, and other, types of scam. I remember quite a while back when the old favorites of "I want to give you several million dollars" and "You have won the lottery" were about that it was estimated that several thousand people all over the world got 'taken' by these scammers.

It is quite good fun to 'string them alone' if your not busy. My personal favorite for those religious people trying to give me a couple of million dollars is to invite them to join my church, the "Church of the Naked Red Breast" which involves them sending a photo displaying their left breast which has been painted red whilst holding their passport. Once they have joined I can accept their money. There is a joining fee for my church of around $50 which on the one occasion I actually got money I donated it to a good cause.

With the B&B scams I have strung a few along and then told them I would bring my credit card round to their house as I only lived at the other end of their street, never hear from them again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had some more of these but here's one guy, I seem to remember he called himself Prince something or another. Did this one back in 2004 or 5 I can't quite remember.

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q99/ckenway/CRB-1.jpg[/IMG]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done Josid!

I have only joined this forum because I found your message about Frank Cologenal through Google.

He is trying to scam me too, and having read the responses to your post, I presume Leo's rudeness can only be attributed to excess consumption of his local brain-rotting apple brandy ! What an A*S*H*L* !!

Of course you must try to string these scammers along, otherwise you can't always tell if they are scammers.

Like Quillan, we had an enquiry in far-from-perfect English, with a very odd country code on the phone number - I nearly didn't respond, as we had had an Cote d'Ivoire conman only the day before, but the guy eventually phoned me: he was genuine, and lived in Gibraltar, hence the odd country code. He paid up no problem.

Anyway, why not waste their time too? Did anyone hear the BBC 4 programme back last Christmas which was based on a Scotsman stringing along a West African scammer offering lions (the Scot insisted on talking lions). It made a boring journery in the English snow highly hilarious!

Josid, you say you don't advertise on the website that Frank Cologenal quoted, but I'll bet you're listed on your local office de tourisme site. We only started getting these scammers when our local tourist people added our name to their website. Unfortunely, they published our e-mail address, while all the reputable sites we advertise on - French Connections, Chez Nous, etc - filter the enquiries.

However, as Frank Cologenal has given an Edinburgh address, will you join me in an approached to Lothian & Borders Police?

They probably don't want a fraudster on their patch.

I've got him on hold, at present. Told him I wouldn't be able to transfer money from my account to his wife's because we have limited banking facilities - which is true. The account we use for the lettings business allows anyone to pay in, but the only withdrawals allowed are to my current account - very useful to protect one's money.

Hope you have a successful season - scammers excepted!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...